his own advisers. the kepdies always like to operate on more than one track. they always like to do things privately through the family and jack always used bobby as a secret messenger to his friends and to his foes. in washington, bobby has gone so far as to hold secret meetings with a russian spy to open a back channel between the president and kruschev. it was really something quite extraordinary. things like that had probably never gone on before. kennedy had taken risks by having bobby set up this back channel, and he was hopeful that the soviets would respond. bobby through the russian spy had been led to believe that khrushchev was ready to talk about nuclear arms. as it turned out, he wasn t the least bit interested. khrushchev has only one agenda, berlin.
were politically connected and when you investigated them, who would you run into? you d run into an elected official. this is robert pierpoint and that building across the street there is the u.s. department of justice. since the 1950s, bobby has been rooting out corruption in the mob-infiltrated labor unions. the attorney general seldom leaves the office before 8:00 at night. as attorney general, he s determined to wage the biggest war on the mafia in american history. we need now more than talk, we need action. bobby kennedy had the single adjective stick with him more than anything else and it was the word ruthless and bobby learned, to joe s great delight, how to be a tough guy from papa joe. you have a reputation for toughness from being a fighter. we ve heard your father fostered
a spirit of competition in the family. i think so. as we were growing up i think in any family where there s a lot of children you re always fighting with one another, competing with one another. joe believes making such dangerous enemies could ruin the kennedy presidency. he said democrats don t go after labor leaders no matter how corrupt they might be. not only will you destroy your future, he said, but you ll destroy your brother s future. bobby was a stern moralist and a tough guy, and there was also kind of a rebellious streak in him. he was willing to defy parental authority to go after the mob. this was personal. he felt these people were animals, and he wanted personally to destroy them. there s one mobster in particular whom bobby is obsessed with bringing to justice. sam momo giancana was
he said, i just need to rest. don t call any doctors. those are his last words. he then went into his room and he suffered a massive stroke. joseph is taken to the hospital. immediately he s put on the critical list. he s in real bad shape. he s given last rights because he might pass away. for jackie to be the one to tell jack that this has happened, it s devastating. jack, bobby and their sister jeanne fly from washington to be at their father s side. they all rush eed be with hi in the hospital. everybody is in a panic. joe might not live. joe s doctors don t think they can save him. but bobby refuses to let them
exactly the sort of villain bobby kennedy would want to take on. he was exactly the sort bobby kennedy would want to take on. when bobby took on giancanna, in the 1950s, the fat was in the fire. that was a confrontation that was never going to go away. so the fbi detail in chicago begins harassing are sam giancanna and his top lieutenants. they follow giancanna everywhere, wiretapping his girlfriends. even on the golf course. were we afraid? no, as a matter of fact, we were pushed very hard by robert kennedy to do everything we could. he was a great guy if you were his friend. i would not have wanted to be his enemy. bobby s investigations may be hitting too close to home. this guy was well known to joe kennedy and he was a co-investor in a large casino.